Episode 49

When Kim Hyunwoo went out to the square, there were visibly a huge number of mercenaries and adventurers gathered.

Some with curiosity.

Others with distrust.

And still others, mercenaries and adventurers looking at Kim Hyunwoo with a variety of emotions.

Having glanced over them, Kim Hyunwoo, who had gone up to the podium prepared for use today, looked around and spoke.

“Nice to meet you. Everyone, I am Kim Hyunwoo, the Lord of Lartania. I assume all of you gathered here are because of the opening of the Labyrinth in Lartania territory.”

Seeing the mercenaries murmuring for a moment after his words, Kim Hyunwoo immediately continued.

“To put it conclusively, that statement is true. All of you gathered here will be able to freely enter and exit the Labyrinth in Lartania for the next three days. Moreover, the items obtained inside will be entirely yours.”

The mercenaries began to murmur immediately at Kim Hyunwoo’s words.

Watching them murmur for a moment, Kim Hyunwoo soon raised his hand to calm the mercenaries and spoke.

“However, the Magic Stones you bring out are naturally the property of the Lartania territory, so a tax will be levied on the Magic Stones you carry out.”

Kim Hyunwoo spread four fingers excluding the thumb.

“40%, you will have to pay 40% of the Magic Stones you bring out of the Labyrinth as tax to our territory. But the rest of the Magic Stones? They are yours, of course.”

In fact, charging 40% tax for mining Magic Stones in the Labyrinth of Lartania was almost absurdly usurious.

After all, it was the mercenaries who mined the Magic Stones.

But despite that.

“40%, are you saying that’s really the case?”

“That’s unbelievable…”

“What a tremendous opportunity.”

“Good thing we came to the territory…!”

The mercenaries were already making a fuss as if they had obtained incredible luck.

The reason was that in this continent, which serves as the backdrop for Arteil, it was common for Lords to take exorbitant profits much like in the medieval times.

Thus, in a place where taxes naturally exceeded 60%, the 40% offered by Kim Hyunwoo was a tax rate that was enough to cause a stir among the mercenaries.

Above all, the reason why the mercenaries were already making a fuss was because of the price of the Magic Stones.

Even the smallest Magic Stones holds considerable value.

Originally, Magic Stones are sparingly distributed by Lords who can produce them exclusively.

This meant that even if the mercenaries obtained ten Magic Stones and paid four as tax, the high price of the Magic Stones themselves meant they would still make a considerable profit.

Therefore.

“If you bring out the Magic Stones and take them to the reception desk right in front of the Labyrinth, we will return the Magic Stones to you after deducting the tax. If you wish to exchange the Magic Stones immediately, that can also be handled at the reception desk, of course, at the ‘original price’.”

“Ah, and just to be clear, please don’t hide the Magic Stones to avoid paying tax. If it’s discovered that you’ve hidden Magic Stones, all mined Magic Stones will be confiscated, and you will be expelled from the territory.”

“Now, please feel free to enter and exit the Labyrinth from this point forward.”

Kim Hyunwoo opened his mouth.

Simultaneously, the mercenaries began to move towards the Labyrinth of Lartania.

Allen, the leader of a small mercenary group of about eight people, had been hunting goblins on the first tier for hours.

“Another one came out!”

He picked up the emerged Magic Stones and opened his mouth with an expression of great excitement.

“How many does this make now?”

“It’s already the fifteenth.”

“So, even after setting aside six, we have nine… wow, aren’t we really going to be rich?!”

“We’re really going to feast today!”

As soon as Allen picked up the Magic Stones, he smiled at his team members who started chattering excitedly around him, then he tucked the Magic Stones into his pocket and thought with a broad smile,

‘Is this really happening…!’

In fact, Allen was still skeptical before he first entered this place.

It was good to be able to enter the Labyrinth right away, but he knew that the monsters in the Labyrinth were limited.

Thus, Allen wondered if he would be able to touch even one monster in the Labyrinth, and indeed, when they first entered the Labyrinth, the mercenaries growled at each other, aiming their swords to catch a monster first.

However, that situation was resolved in less than an hour.

The reason was that the mercenaries realized that goblins were endlessly respawning on the first tier.

From that moment, the mercenaries started to focus their efforts on hunting the goblins in front of them rather than turning their swords on each other.

Thanks to the strong mercenary groups who realized that monsters were constantly reviving heading down to the second tier to obtain more Magic Stones, Allen was also able to obtain Magic Stones.

‘I don’t know how exactly monsters come back to life like this-’

The fact that he, as a mercenary, could obtain Magic Stones from monsters was more important to him than why monsters were reviving, so he smiled.

“Should we try to sneak these out? Nine is great, but fifteen would be a real jackpot, wouldn’t it?”

“That’s absolutely not possible.”

Allen immediately stopped her at the mercenary member’s following words.

“Why?”

“There are still two days left, right? So there’s no need to take such a risk to hide the Magic Stones. If we get caught hiding them…”

“…You’re right, that would be a serious loss instead.”

The mercenary member immediately agreed with Allen’s words.

In fact, most of the mercenary groups that entered here initially thought about embezzling the Magic Stones but gave up on such thoughts upon seeing monsters continuously reviving.

For the mercenaries, this place was a very good opportunity to make more money than the effort they put in.

Therefore.

“Shall we go catch them right away?”

“Wait, aren’t you a bit hungry? Let’s eat something first.”

“We didn’t bring anything with us, did we?”

“Earlier, I saw soldiers selling food and some simple items in the rest area where the soldiers were.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, honestly, food and relief supplies are quite expensive compared to those above… but considering the Magic Stones we’ve mined, it’s an amount we can definitely afford, right?”

“…So shall we eat? It would be a waste of time to eat outside just to save money.”

“Then let’s eat quickly and go beat up some more goblins.”

The Allen mercenary group, all smiling, immediately headed to the rest area where the soldiers were.

It’s been two days since mercenaries began flocking to Lartania in earnest.

“Just one jerky here!”

“Here too!”

“And this side!”

“Give me everything from this side too!”

Hans, who was selling goods on one side of the marketplace, had a happier smile on his face than ever before.

The reason was that his business had been doing extremely well since mercenaries began pouring into the Lartania territory in earnest.

‘Can I really be this happy…!’

Hans smiled as he handed over goods to the incessantly arriving mercenaries, even as he glanced at his wife who had come to the market to help him due to the shortage of hands.

Though his body might be tired, the money he had made over the past two days was similar to the revenue he had generated since he started doing business in the market.

Therefore, Hans smiled despite sweating profusely from the effort.

Not just Hans.

In fact, most of the merchants selling goods in this market were dealing with the mercenaries with happy smiles, just like Hans.

Thus, Hans, who was busily working without a moment’s rest, was very grateful to the Lord of Lartania even amidst all this.

If it weren’t for the Lord of Lartania, Hans, including the territory’s residents, might not have survived, knowing that they are enjoying this happiness due to the power held by the Lord right now.

‘Indeed, the Lord might really be an Angel from Heaven…!’

Therefore, Hans was sincerely grateful to the Lord and worked hard.

Kim Hyunwoo, who had created this entire situation, was.

“Good. Has there been any increase in dissatisfaction among the territory’s residents due to the tax collection?”

“Is that so?”

“Indeed, accumulating proficiency in advance was the right answer.”

Following Loria’s report, Kim Hyunwoo looked at the resource window with a satisfied expression.

“Wow.”

Kim Hyunwoo unwittingly marveled as he watched the quarterly tax increase the more he looked at it.

1,231 Gold Coins might seem like a small amount compared to what Kim Hyunwoo currently had, but it was an incredibly high amount for a territory that had only an early 300 level of development.

‘…Although I’ve already spent nearly 10,000 Gold Coins converting a lot of Magic Stones.’

Kim Hyunwoo smiled instead.

The rapidly accumulating Magic Stones were a great help in maintaining the city’s Labyrinth.

Therefore, Kim Hyunwoo, who had been smiling for a while, called for Elena through the guards,

‘Now, after giving them a taste of it… let’s move on to the next phase.’

He grinned and stood up from his seat.

And just as Kim Hyunwoo was standing up to prepare for the next task,

“…Sigh.”

The Absolute Ruler of Darkness, with a look of anxiousness and hope in her eyes, was looking at the Lartania territory that had just come into view.